1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a 3-dimensional (3D) shape reconstruction device and method, and more particularly, to a 3D shape reconstruction device and method for reconstructing a 3D shape using a depth image and a color image.
2. Description of the Related Art
A shape reconstruction technology refers to a technology for reconstructing a shape from 3-dimensional (3D) appearance information through combination of 3D points or meshes. The shape reconstruction technology may use laser, and a pattern or a passive image. The shape reconstruction technology may be divided into an active method and a passive method according to a reconstruction method or characteristics of a sensor used for reconstruction.
The active method captures a shape by projecting laser or pattern light to an object. That is, the active method photographs a pattern projected to a surface of the object by an image camera at a predetermined distance from a light source. In addition, the active method may determine a 3D position by triangulating the photographed pattern.
The passive method restores shape information of an object using a multi-view image obtained by multi cameras arranged around the object. In detail, the passive method may restore the shape information of the object from the multi-view image using an image based reconstruction method such as stereo or volumetric.
In the following description, a technology for reconstructing a whole shape of a user out of various objects will be suggested. Since, the user is basically dynamic, characteristics of a dynamic object different from a static object that has been dealt in conventional industries need to be taken into consideration.
In case of the active method that projects laser or pattern light to a surface of an object and photographs, reconstruction accuracy may be considerably decreased when different patterns overlap on the surface of the object. Therefore, a relatively long scan time of about 10 seconds or more is necessary to photograph the whole shape and a movement of the user occurring during the scan may directly affect the reconstruct accuracy.
However, different from the active method, the passive method may instantly photograph the whole shape of the user using an industrial camera of a snapshot camera. The passive method, which does not use a particular pattern, captures the user taking various postures or making a continuous motion. However, accuracy of the passive method is lower than accuracy of the active method.
Recently, a sensor provides depth information in real time using a triangulation method based on pattern light in an infrared (IR) area.
Accordingly, there will be introduced a method for obtaining a higher quality result of shape reconstruction by combining data of sensors that simultaneously provide a depth image with a color image.